Nokia and Deutsche Telekom partner to deploy multi-vendor Open RAN network in Germany

Nokia and Deutsche Telekom, the largest mobile network operator in Europe, has started deploying a commercial multi-vendor Open RAN network in Germany with Fujitsu.

The technology is fully integrated into DT's live commercial network and the initial cluster will provide 2G, 4G, and 5G commercial services to customers in the Neubrandenburg area of Northern Germany.

As part of the deal, Nokia will deploy its commercial Open RAN compliant, high-performance, energy-efficient 5G AirScale baseband solution in DT's commercial network including Fujitsu Radio Units. The solution will ensure the operator has the full feature, service, and performance parity with classic purpose-built RAN.

Commenting on this partnership, Tommi Uitto, President of Mobile Networks at Nokia, said, "We are proud to partner with Deutsche Telekom, the largest mobile network operator in Europe, to start deploying a commercial multi-vendor Open RAN network in Germany with Fujitsu. Together, we are making Open RAN a commercial reality. Nokia's industry-leading radio access portfolio and baseband software ensures that multi-supplier O-RAN systems can be deployed without any compromises in terms of performance, energy efficiency, or security. Together with our ecosystem of partners, we are providing more choice and a higher performance in Open RAN solutions to our customers than they will see from other RAN suppliers. This is another step highlighting Nokia's commitment to Open RAN."

In addition, the two companies have also agreed to explore O-RAN technology around Cloud RAN, 3rd party CaaS, RIC, SMO, and energy efficiency.

The deal confirms Nokia's industry leadership through its anyRAN approach which offers mobile operators more choice in building 5G networks.

Claudia Nemat, Board Member of Deutsche Telekom AG for Technology and Innovation, said, "Open RAN is crucial to Deutsche Telekom's strategy to promote greater supplier diversity and accelerate customer-oriented innovation in the radio access network. Our commercial deployment with Nokia and Fujitsu is an important step to prepare multi-vendor Open RAN as the technology of choice for future networks."

Our contract with @deutschetelekom marks the largest commercial #OpenRAN deployment to date.In this multi-vendor deployment, we provide our O-RAN compliant AirScale solution and @Fujitsu_Global delivers its Radio Units.Read more: https://t.co/uBUwLSYngX pic.twitter.com/lR7SXJbmrU

— Nokia (@nokia) December 12, 2023